Two Immigration officers detained to assist in human trafficking case

Two Immigration officers were arrested in Johor yesterday afternoon to assist in the investigation into the case of a syndicate smuggling blacklisted illegal immigrants into the country.

Immigration Department director-general Khairul Dzaimee Daud said the two officers, aged 20 and 27 years old, were stationed at the Sultan Abu Bakar Complex (KSAB) in Iskandar Puteri.

He said the department had earlier busted a syndicate known as 'Ah Chong' in an operation carried out at Larkin Sentral and arrested 25 illegal immigrants from Indonesia, comprising 13 men and 12 women, as well as two local men aged 34 and 39 believed to be the transporters.

Khairul (above) said this during a media conference at the KSAB yesterday.

According to him, the syndicate is suspected to have been active in smuggling blacklisted illegal immigrants banned from entering the country since the reopening of the country's borders in April.

The immigrants were charged between RM5,000 and RM8,000 each, Khairul said, adding that the syndicate might have smuggled at least 600 illegal immigrants raking up over RM2.5 million in profits.

The Larkin Sentral bus station

“The modus operandi of this syndicate is to smuggle illegal immigrants into the country through LinKedua, and the two immigration officers at KSAB will let them go uninspected before the immigrants are taken to Larkin Sentral by bus.

"At Larkin Sentral, there is a special room provided by the syndicate to give them fake passport stamps to trick the authorities and then they will be put on a bus to the Southern Integrated Terminal in Kuala Lumpur," he said.

Khairul said the immigrants were being detained under Section 36 of the Immigration Act 1959/63, while the Immigration officers and the two local suspects were being investigated under Section 26A of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007.

"The Immigration Department will not compromise with any of its officers and personnel who are found to be colluding with migrant smugglers," he added.

- Bernama